Chapter 62: Rude Awakening

Mina finished cutting the vegetables and brought them over to her mother's side. She helped her mother pour them into a big pot of boiling chicken. She took a whiff of the pleasant aroma rising from the stove. It smelled like home. Seldom did the family eat so luxuriously, but today was a special occasion. Mina hugged her mother's shoulders and planted a big kiss on her cheek. Her mother used her free hand to pat Mina's head and asked her to set the table. Smiling, Mina walked to the shabby table and began to prepare it for her family of four.

Once seated, the family laughed and joked around. Everyone was smiling and laughing with one another. Mina's sister had gotten accepted to a local college on scholarship. The tuition was not much, but given the family's circumstances a scholarship was necessary. The family had gathered to celebrate her sister's accomplishment, but Mina's sister had insisted that the dinner was to thank Mina for all her help and hard work.

In reality, Mina's sister would not have qualified for a scholarship had it not been for Mina's constant pestering and long hours of tutoring. Mina felt a wave of emotion run over her as she saw the gleam of gratitude in her sister's eyes. Suddenly, Mina's mother grabbed her head and started to cry.

'No, that's not right, mom what is wrong?' Mina thought. Mina looked over to her father whose face looked dark and gloomy. He was staring at her with contempt.

'No, this is all wrong. This is not how it's supposed to go.' Mina's thoughts became frantic.

Without warning her father stood up and leaned across the table, pointing his finger at her with a disappointed and disgusted look on his face.

'What is your relationship to this woman?' he said. Mina was so confused as she stared into the foreign features on her father's face. She finally summoned the strength to speak out loud.

"What woman? Daddy, what is wrong? This is not how it happened. We were all happy today. This is my favorite memory of us. This is not how it's supposed to go!" She shrieked, and her mother's sobs grew more and more distraught.

'No, no, no, no, no. This is not how it happened.' Mina thought as she pushed up from the table and ran away.

When Mina opened the door to leave the house, she fell, but she did not stop falling. She fell for a long time before finally landing on her back. She opened her eyes and looked up. She was back in the hotel room with President Lee, he was about to kick her.

Realizing she was having a nightmare, Mina forced herself awake. Her heart was thumping, and her head felt like it was being squashed by something heavy, but she forced her eyes open anyway. She tried to control her breathing.

'It was just a dream. It was not real' she thought to herself.

Just as Mina came to her senses, she could hear a man's voice in the room. The man was speaking, and a woman was crying. Disoriented Mina pulled her body up into the sitting position and saw Blue standing like a rock in front of President Lee. Unable to stop herself, Mina flung her body out of bed. She was not aware that she was connected to a monitor and the wires tripped her. This caused both President Lee and Blue to pause in their actions.

Mina stood up and untangled her body from the wires and stood right in front of Blue with her arms outstretched. Breathing heavily, she panted out the words

"Leave. Her. Alone." The look on Mina's face shocked president Lee. She did not look afraid of him at all. In fact, she looked at him with hatred and disdain.

It bothered him.

Pretending to be nonchalant, President Lee stood up and took a step in Mina's direction. She averted her gaze from his face, but she did not move. A sudden wave of dizziness overtook her, and she fell backward. If Blue had not been behind her, she would have collapsed hard on the wooden floors. Mina closed her eyes, unable to keep them open. She fainted. Without thinking of the consequences, Tara ran to the door and pulled it open.

"Bressaw! Bressaw!" she screamed, and brother B immediately responded. He grabbed Tara's arms and inspected her for injuries, but she pulled away from him and pointed into the room.

"She's dying! Help her! She is dying!" Tara pleaded. Powerless against her tears, Bressaw rushed into the room only to see President Lee squatting over Mina's body on the ground. The man gave him a subtle nod and he quickly lifted Mina up and placed her into the bed. Tara, who was stuck behind Bressaw like a shadow, covered Mina's body with the blanket and clumsily tried to reconnect Mina to the heart monitor. She had no idea what she was doing but she had seen it on tv before. The monitor beeped and Mina's vitals were displayed. When Tara saw the line on the screen jump, she let out a huge sigh of relief.

President Lee was left gawking at the events that unfolded before him. Since when had any of his employees gone against him? What exactly did this woman give them? He loudly cleared his throat and coldly proclaimed

"Since you two have tied your lives to this woman, I won't stop you, but if she dies, so do you." With that he strode out of the room, leaving Mina in their care.

Outside of the room, Brother A, stood motionless. He had not known when his boss returned and was fearful for his family. President Lee stopped in front of him and summoned the man to his study. Brother A's legs moved on their own accord as he followed his boss reluctantly.

Instructing the man to shut the door, President Lee took a seat behind his desk. He folded his hands and looked at the man before him with scrutinizing eyes. Brother A did not move or speak. He simply waited for further instruction. President Lee spoke.

"Samuel, we have known each other for a long time, have we not?" Brother 'A' nodded. He knew where this conversation was going.